Chapter Five

In the ops center, Morgan was careful to keep Bess from saying any more to True than had already been decided in the med lab. "After all, honey," he reminded her, "it's the truth. Her dad isn't awake and we are watching him."

Bess realized the doubts they all had and decided to cut everyone a little slack. She knew how the contact with the planet had disturbed the group. Just wait until this thing blows over and John wakes up. That will certainly blow their minds—at least Baines's mind, she thought to herself.

Danner managed to pull up some vid feed from the surveillance cameras, revealing a stormy, dark, windy landscape that looked just like the Dreamplane had looked. It was odd how the Dreamplane and the natural waking world were kin to one another. In fact, the Dreamplane looked just like the actual world but without all the human habitation.

"What are the conditions like out there?" Morgan asked curiously.

"The best I can tell is we've got at least 100 mile an hour sustained winds with gusts up to 150. You can feel it blast against the side of the building if you go into the outer rooms," Danner replied. "If you listen, you can hear it as well, even as well insulated as we are in here."

Sure enough, they could hear a dull roaring sound. It gave Bess a chill as she realized that she'd heard that sound before on the Dreamplane.

"How are the air filters holding up?" Morgan continued quietly.

"I don't see any sign of trouble," she answered to Morgan's visible relief.

Across the room, Bess saw Magus sitting next to Walman, who was stretched out asleep on one of the mattresses. When Bess approached, Magus drew a little closer to Walman for a second, then consciously relaxed. Bess knelt next to her and asked, "How's he doing?"

"He's okay, still just weak," Magus answered.

"Did he tell you anything about the ZED?" Bess asked.

"He hasn't said much," Magus responded.

Bess looked down at Walman, her brow tensing at the memory of the day before. "He was in so much pain, and I was scared to death that the ZED was going to kill him," Bess said quietly. "But he never let on. And all that time Alonzo didn't move at all. I really thought we were all going to die." She sighed, then looked back at Magus. "I'm glad he came back to you."

Magus turned to look at her, really look at her. "I never thanked you for that. I don't understand what you all did to that ZED, but I saw what he did to you. How's your arm?"

Bess flexed her wrist. "Oh, it's pretty much all healed now. Julia said it was a bad break, but decently clean. I was lucky."

"I think Terry was lucky you were out there with him," Magus responded. "I know he's grateful too, even if he doesn't say it."

"Typical man," Bess replied, rising to her feet. "Selective hearing and inability to communicate."

"I don't have an inability to communicate, do I?" Morgan asked as they walked back across the room.

"No, Morgan, honey, but you do have selective hearing, you and Alonzo and John all three," she sighed.

"The waiting is the worst part," Mazatyl sighed. "It's time for another inspection of the outer ring of the compound. Anybody want to come along?"

Morgan looked at Bess and shook his head. Magus settled closer to Walman. Mazatyl shrugged. "I'll be on gear with you the whole time, Danner," he commented as he left the room.

On the monitors, Danner noticed that a piece of flying debris had crashed into one of the houses on the outside. Morgan and Bess leaned in closer to see that it was the dunerail, blown in by the hurricane force winds.

"Danziger won't like that a bit," Morgan commented without thinking.

When Bess noticed his wince, she quietly rejoined, "No, he's going to be furious."

Danner looked up at the two of them curiously, "So is Danziger going to be okay?"

Before Morgan could answer, Bess murmured, "I believe he'll be just fine, but I am in the minority at the moment."

As they stood there, peering over Danner's shoulder at the maelstrom outside the doors, Baines entered the ops center, shaking himself as he strode over to the refreshment table where several food and drink items had been brought in.

"How's Cameron?" Danner asked quietly as he approached.

"He's hanging in there, resting now," Baines answered as he pulled up a seat to watch the storm over the monitors. "I still don't see how my scan and doc's got such different readings. When I checked him, his lungs were not functional at all—just a bloody mess in there. By the time she got to him, he was able to take in oxygen on his own."

"I know you don't want to hear this, but Mom said that the Terrians were able to do something to help him," Bess stated. "They couldn't do the same for John so she's kind of pulled him aside for safe keeping until this thing blows through. Afterward, he's going to be fine and so will we."

Baines looked at her with an even gaze. "Bess, I have been among the most freaked by all this craziness," he began. "I will be the first to admit it. Please, for my sake, give it a rest. Because I am here to tell you that if this storm goes by and John Danziger just sits up like nothing ever happened, Julia will have to sedate me for a week."

Just then, Danner's gear gave a little chirp. "Baines, Julia wants to see you in the med lab," she said.

"I'm about ready to check back in with John myself," Bess said as she stood to go with him.

When Baines gave her a sidelong glance, Morgan casually interposed himself between them as they went down the hall.

They entered the room, where Julia stood over her imaging equipment, peering intently at the image on the screen. "Baines, I want you to look at this. Tell me what you see," she began.

Baines took a look then replied, "Blood cells."

"Look again," she instructed. "Look closely."

Baines spent several moments staring at the cells on the screen, then looked up in surprise. "These are not all blood cells, are they? I see three different things here."

"I am so glad I am not imagining things," the doctor sighed. "That's exactly what I thought." She pointed at one of the cells and stated, "This is a blood cell." Pointing to another, she said, "This is one of those pollen like cells that came from the spring flower." Then with a gesture to another, she added seriously, "This is something masquerading as a blood cell. It's wearing a sort of biological cloak. I've never seen anything like it."

"Who's blood is this?" Morgan asked suspiciously.

"John's," Julia answered. "I've been looking for any sign at all that what Bess is telling us it true—that he's just going to come out of this state. Bess, I checked your blood and a sample I already had from Morgan as well. Depositing that pollen—for lack of a better word—into the gap in the earth didn't remove it all from you. Part went dormant. That might explain the connection you've been able to form with the planet."

She then turned to look at all of them. "This other cell could be the thing that we've been looking for. It could be some kind of biological weapon Bennett unleashed on this settlement in that black rain you and John kept seeing, Bess."

Alonzo carefully eased out of bed and made his way to a lab stool to take a closer look. "You're saying you've found it?"

"If I hadn't been looking so closely," she began, "if I hadn't already known how the pollen looked from studying it before-" she sighed in a combination of weariness and relief, "I'd have never seen it."

"What next?" Morgan asked curiously.

"We isolate this cloaked cell, strip off the shell and see just what is under there that could be causing our problems. If I see these same cells in Devon's blood sample, but not in Uly's, we'll know we're onto something," Julia answered.

"If this hadn't happened to John, I don't know how long it would have taken me to find it—if ever. The disguise is just nearly perfect," she added.

After so many weeks of searching, to be in sight of the answer was overwhelming. Julia looked up at Alonzo with tears welling in her eyes. "Alonzo, we could be looking at the cure for Devon. We could be able to bring her back soon," she said with a catch in her voice. "But it seems so wrong to lose John to get there."

Alonzo put his arms around her and stroked her hair. "Don't lose heart, querida. Just wait until the storm passes."

As the long day and night wore on, the storm showed no signs of abating. Everyone had long since pulled up a piece of bedding for some much needed rest. Magus lay close to Walman, one arm cast protectively over him. For once, neither of them seemed concerned that the group might see them together.

Yale had the two children cornered away from the subdued conversations of the adults, and the three slept quietly off to the side. The others each found free spaces on the mattresses with the exception of Cameron, Alonzo, and Julia who stayed in the med lab for the night where the ZED and Danziger still lay unmoving, the two Terrians still standing on the bare dirt in the corner.

Morgan woke in the night, aware that Bess was no longer curled next to him. He sat up. Something else was wrong. He glanced over at Danner's monitors to see that it was still very dark outside, but the wind was still. That was it—he couldn't hear the wind anymore. Was the storm over?

He got up in the dark, guided by the soft glow of the monitors and walked softly down the hall to the med lab. Looking through the open door, he could see Bess standing there next to Danziger's bedside. She held one of his hands in hers and with the other hand gently brushed back the dusty curls of hair that kept falling into his eyes.

He could hear her calling to him softly. "John, wake up. The storm is over now. Wake up." When she didn't get an answer, he saw her drop into the Dreamplane. As much as he wanted to know what she was doing, he knew he had to stay behind. He loved his wife, now he had to trust her. He had to let her do this—whatever it was—on her own. He'd be there to catch her on the other side.

Bess walked through the Dreamplane, glad to see that it was finally quiet again. The wind was gone and the brightness had returned. She called and called to John, but got no answer. Then she called to the planet. "Where is he?" she asked. "The storm is over."

By way of an answer, the planet pulled her deeper into that level of the Dreamplane where she'd seen John before. "John!" she called and began to search for him in the tall grass. Then she saw him, still asleep where she'd left him.

"Wake up, John," she called as she dropped to her knees beside him and shook his shoulder. "Come on, wake up! The storm's over."

He didn't answer, but did take a deep breath. "John, it's time to get up," she said again sternly, at his lack of response, she decided to try a bit of selective hearing on him."The dune rail has been smashed up against the side of a house. It'll take days to fix it." At his continued lack of response, she began to get angry—something had to get through to him.

"True's looking for you, John. Everybody thinks you're dead. True needs you to get up!" she called, continuing to shake him. He groaned a little at this and rolled over onto his back, but still didn't wake.

Then a thought sprang to mind—Sleeping Beauty. No, she couldn't. She shouldn't. Morgan would have a fit. "John, get up!" she yelled. "Mom, wake him up for me!"

Nothing. Well, it was worth a shot. Bess bent down and gave the sleeping prince a kiss. Nothing. Then she found herself looking into the blue of his eyes.

Back in the med lab, Morgan watched in horror as Bess kissed John Danziger right on the mouth. His heart dropped inside him, then he jumped in surprise as Danziger proceeded to take a gasping breath for air.

"Julia!" Bess called. "Help him!

Danziger's eyes darted about the room, panicking as he fought to breathe, fought to live. His lungs were on fire; he couldn't get his breath. A mask descended over his face and he pulled at it weakly as it smothered him. He could hear someone talking to him in a soft voice. "Come Dream with me, John," it said and he felt a cool hand on his brow, pulling him away from the pain.

His heart was still racing as he found himself sitting on the grass of the Dreamscape, leaning up against someone who held him steady, the same cool hand on his forehead pulling him back against her. "Bess, is that you?" he asked.

"It's me, John. You're okay. No pain on the Dreamplane," she murmured in a soothing voice. "Let's give them a minute to get you under control back there, okay?"

"You're supposed to be True's mom, not mine," he said, pulling at his most recent memories to make some sense of things.

She laughed and patted the earth beside them. "This is your mom," she said. "I'm just your friend."

John settled back into the comfort of her embrace, glad to have her there with him. "Thank you, Bess. Thank you for being my friend," he sighed.

Back in the med lab, Julia was glad when Danziger settled down enough for her to check him over. A major portion of her mind was in a state of complete shock to see him alive at all, leaving the doctor in her on autopilot to run diagnostics and inject him with nanites to help heal the wounds in his lungs so they didn't lose him again.

Morgan stood in the doorway, just as shocked as she was, wearing an indecipherable look as he stared at his Dreaming Bess with her hand still resting on Danziger's forehead. Alonzo had also been woken up by the commotion and sat up in the bed with a huge grin on his face.

"What do you think about all this?" Morgan asked him tentatively, barely managing to tear his eyes away from his wife.

"I had my bets on Bess and Danziger the whole time," Alonzo answered. "Even though I couldn't know for sure she was right, I somehow knew for sure she was right. This planet does something to us."

Morgan knew that. He knew it well and it scared him. He was very much afraid of what he might have lost when the planet changed Bess.

By daybreak, everyone in the compound had heard the news that Danziger was alive. True was excited to see her dad, never having known the full extent of his difficulties. She kept her distance from the Terrians, still on guard, but gladly ran to throw herself onto Danziger's chest. He pulled her close and kissed her head, glad to see his Truegirl again.

"You're healing far faster than I could hope," Julia began. "You and Cameron both. I think this is all part of a bigger picture that involves everything—the changes the planet is causing in us, the biostat chips, the disguised particle I found in your bloodstream—everything is linked." She sighed, then turned to her diagnostic equipment.

"Before you get too deep there, doc, there's something you ought to see," came Baines's voice from the doorway. "You've all got to see this—especially Cameron and Danziger."

As Danziger walked out into the hallway, supported by Yale on one side, Baines couldn't help but give him a suspicious look.

"I am not a zombie, Baines," Danziger snapped at him. "Keep this up and I'll make Bess take you onto the Dreamplane for yourself."

Baines just backed off, knowing that Danziger was not joking.

As the group reached the doorway, Mazatyl gave them all a long look before opening it. "The air is still a little strong out there, but all our sensors say it's safe," he said, then threw open the main door to reveal a changed landscape.

Instead of brownish grass, there rose before them a brillantly green field, lush and thick, dotted with tall flowers of the most incredible color and variety.

Next to him, Morgan could hear Bess gasp in amazement. Her wildflowers she'd collected to dry were nothing compared to this. The brilliantly blue sky contrasted with puffs of white cloud bright enough to be on the Dreamplane. They walked out into the brilliance of the sunlight.

Danziger took a deep breath—much to Julia's chagrin. The air indeed still held an acrid feel to it, just enough to make one cough a little. But Danziger looked as though his strength were returning. "It smells just fine out here to me," he added. "Like life."

"What did this?" Julia asked, ever the researcher. "Did the acidic gases in the storm serve as a fertilizer? A catalyst?"

"Who cares?" Alonzo replied, pulling her against him. "Just enjoy it."

"All the same, we should be careful of the flowers," Julia warned, remembering their most recent run in with spring flowers.

"Nah," Danziger waved aside her warning with one hand. "Nothing to worry about here. Mom would have told us."

"Yeah, but sometimes Mom's warnings are a little hard to figure out," Bess teased as they all walked out into the open field.

Morgan pulled her aside. He had to tell her this right now while he he had the strength to do it. "Bess, whatever is going on between you and Danziger, I know it's not you. I know the planet has done things to you," he began.

"What are you talking about?" Bess asked brightly. "Nothing's going on between me and John."

Morgan bent his head to one side to make their conversation even more private. "I saw you kiss him last night," he whispered.

"And it was like kissing my brother," she answered in a whisper of her own. "I love John, but not like that. This whole thing with Mom has made us very close, but not like am with you, Morgan honey. I'm just looking after him until Devon comes back."

He looked at her intently, then comprehension dawned over his face. "So you don't-" he began. Then Bess took her husband by the hand and pulled Morgan behind her into the open field of green, green grass and technicolor flowers and kissed him, and it was not like kissing her brother at all.

Behind them at the compound, Danziger came across the wreckage of the dunerail. The entire camp could hear him vent his fury and frustration. "How in the hell am I supposed to fix this?" he yelled. "The frame's bent nearly in half and just look at the converter panels! Baines! Walman! Get over here!"

For the crew, being in the path of John Danziger having a tantrum over his precious vehicle made his being dead for a day seem almost preferable.